Servants and Submission - 1 Peter 2:17-25 - June 20, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for June 20, 2021. We are meeting in person and streaming online (facebook and youtube) every Sunday at 9:37 am. You can also watch livestream recordings at any time.

 1 Peter 2:17-25 Servants and Submission

Good morning! We are back in 1 Peter 2 this morning, page 1015 in the pew Bibles.

We started talking last week about everybody’s favorite Christian virtue, submission. (At least I think that’s what that was… Thank you all for your prayers by the way.)

In our passage for this morning Peter gets more specific about submission as Christians, that we are not only to submit to the governing authorities over us, but we are also to submit to those whom we serve.

Paul talks about slaves submitting to their earthly masters but Peter uses a different word, Paul says slaves, Peter says servants. And I think that we can probably have an easier time applying these principles to our own lives.

Let’s look at our text.

17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. 

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. Let’s pray.

Peter fleshes out here several ways how we, as Christians, are to honor everyone as it says in verse 17. One of the most practical ways for the original audience of this letter and us to honor everyone is for servants to be subject to their masters with all respect.

Where Paul addresses slaves, Peter addresses household servants, “domestics,” they might be called.

And before we get any further, I know that there are many who bristle with idea of identifying with slaves or domestic servants. I’ve had conversations with people who have outright refused to hear the principles in these texts because they refused to be compared with slaves or servants because, “nobody owns me, I’m nobody’s slave.”

Try not showing up for work for a week and see if you aren’t.

We can identify with these ideas because most of us are, or have been, employed by somebody, we have all had bosses or managers to whom we are accountable. These principles that Peter talks about parallel perfectly with the relationships we have with our managers or bosses, honestly, anyone to whom we are accountable or responsible.

Weisinger wrote, “Before such masters the false longings for liberty are most apt to break out; but here is just the point at which Christian views and principles appear in the strongest possible contrast with merely human and natural ones, and at which the peculiarity of the Christian calling, as a power of endurance, shows its marvelous glory.”

So again, if we understand these principles to apply to employees as well as domestic servants, we can all have our pride beat into submission together.

J. Mombert wrote, “What the writers of the New Testament have said concerning slaves holds true concerning servants and all those employed… under a master [boss], they that discharge their office modestly, diligently and willingly, and act with faithfulness and integrity in everything that is committed to them.”

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.

Peter reminds us that the quality of character of those whom we are responsible to is irrelevant, whether they be wonderful, loving, helpful, and kind, or, unjust, quite literally, crooked.

Our obligation to our duties does not depend on the character of those to whom we are responsible but on our own relation to Christ and His example.

Peter goes on to say…

19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

This here is an amazing concept, potentially life altering, or at least attitude altering, I hope.

The concept is merited suffering vs. martyr suffering. I say “vs.” because they are not the same.

Merited suffering is when you get what you justly deserve for bad behavior. Having to pay the fine for speeding, not turning in your homework and getting a bad grade, having a bad attitude or slacking off at work and being passed over for a promotion or not getting a raise. How often do we experience things like this and cry, “woe is me!”? This is merited suffering, we earned it, Peter says there is no credit for enduring beatings for our own sins. (Maybe beatings are against your company’s policy, but you get the idea.)

Martyr suffering, on the other hand, Peter calls, “a gracious thing in the sight of God,” doing good and suffering for it, enduring suffering or punishment or tribulation when you don’t deserve it.

JP Lange wrote, “You have no praise before God, you cannot glory in your tribulations, if you remain steadfast in troubles brought on by yourselves; but if, suffering wrongly you remain steadfast, you will have honor before God and secure His approval and good pleasure.”

If you’re anything like me, bless your little hearts, right now you may be starting to wonder, “What about my rights?” The reality is, deep down, I expect things to go my way pretty much all the time. An equal reality is, they seldom do. As my dad is fond of saying, “Why bother worrying? Nothing’s going to be alright.” When I’m faced with problems I have most likely created myself I often hear myself saying, “Can’t nothing be easy,” as if easy is owed to me. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

When we are faced with difficulties that are brought on because we have been willing to submit to the authorities placed over us we have a choice about how we react. Will we whine about our rights or will we patiently endure? 

To be frank, there is really no choice to be made here. Peter reminds us of our example, Jesus.

20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

There is beautiful and rich theology in these verses concerning the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf and in our place, but that wasn’t really Peter’s point. 

Peter’s point was to remind us of the innocent suffering of Christ, the Father’s purpose in it, and the example that He is for us to follow.

Matthew Henry wrote, “Good Christians are called to be sufferers, and therefore they must expect it… The sufferings of Christ should quiet us under the most unjust and cruel sufferings we meet in the world. He suffered voluntarily, not for Himself but for us, with the utmost readiness, with perfect patience, from all quarters, and all this though He was God-Man; shall not we sinners, who deserve the worst, submit to the light afflictions of this life, which work for us unspeakable advantages afterwards?”

Peter’s point is that Christ, our Shepherd, our Overseer, our example, quietly, patiently, willingly endured unjust suffering in submission to ungodly authorities. His example is a proof that patient endurance under unjust and undeserved sufferings in submission are acceptable to God.

Our Master and Savior expects no more from each of you than He was willing to do Himself. He bore our sins to save us, how much more should we be willing to quietly and patiently endure our own challenges in submission.

Jesus Christ is our Gift and Pattern, our Mediator and Head, our Shepherd and Light. What is our duty? To believe and to follow, to trust and obey His teaching and His example.

Bishop Horne said, “He who regards [Christ] as an example and not a redeemer is lost because he cannot follow Him; he who takes Him for a redeemer and not for an example will be lost because he does not follow Him.”

Though these verses are a reminder of Christ’s example for us as disciples to follow, our pattern, I would be remiss if I did not remind you all of the purpose of the pattern.

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

The offer still stands: He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds, the wounds of our souls have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, will you now return to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul?

The purpose of Christ’s submission and suffering is your salvation, will you now accept that gift, will you believe in Jesus, turn away from your sin, and entrust your life to Him? If so, I would love to pray with you and help you get to know the Lord Jesus our Great Shepherd.

And a reminder for those of you who know the Lord, the purpose of His submission and suffering was our salvation, the most world changing thing to ever happen, it is entirely possible that our own submission and subsequent suffering may also have effects far beyond what we could ever imagine!

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Amen.

Submission to Kings - 1 Peter 2:13-17 - June 13, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for June 13, 2021. We are meeting in person (check out our Covid-19 Plan here) and online (facebook and youtube) every Sunday at 9:37 am. You can also watch livestream recordings at any time.

 1 Peter 2:13-17 Submission to Kings

So here we are again in 1 Peter 2, verses 13-17, page 1015 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we talked just briefly about the church’s dirty word, and honestly one of the greatest strategies for separating the church from the world with behavior. Meaning that the world will certainly see that Christians are different if they embrace this controversial, and quite honestly, super popular philosophy.

There are limits to this philosophy, there are limits to our submission and we’ll talk about that, even though that’s usually where our hearts want to start. “How far do I have to go?”

Peter breaks submission down into three categories in his first letter, submission to the government, submission to masters, and submission to spouses. This morning we are only going to focus on the first one, submission to the government.

So let’s look at our text.

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Let’s pray.

Jesus gave us in the Great Commandment a wonderful, simple, complicated, beautiful way to be as His disciples, a way of love. At the Last Supper He gave us an new Commandment, a new mandate, to love one another.

Oddly, we have no problem with this philosophy but still bristle at submission to authority. Don’t think they’re related?

The love that Jesus commands us to exercise is not affection, it’s not feelings, it’s to consciously choose to prefer someone over yourself, it’s to put others first, it’s to submit to serving them for their good.

So when Peter instructs us to submit to the government it is simply a practical extension of what Jesus taught us, what He commanded us to do.

John Calvin wrote, “He that fears God, loves his brethren, and embraces all mankind with becoming love, will not fail to render also to kings the honor that is due them.”

Verse 13 says to be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.

To be subject means to submit, to obey, all our favorite things, there’s no mystery here. But what’s most important is the next phrase, “for the Lord’s sake.” 

Motivation is very important. When we submit out of compulsion, when we are almost forced to submit, it is not the same as submitting for the Lord’s sake. When we submit for the Lord’s sake it’s an act of worship, when we submit under compulsion it’s only out of fear of punishment or other negative consequences.

Martin Luther said, “Although you are free in all externals, for you are Christians, and ought not be forced by law to be subjected to a secular rule, for there is no law for the justified, yet you ought spontaneously to yield a ready and uncoerced obedience, not because necessity compels you, but that you may please God, and benefit your neighbor. Thus Christ did act, as we read in Matthew 17:24-27.”

Just so we can see exactly what Luther meant, listen to Matthew 17:24-27.

24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Peter says to be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

It’s clear here that Peter means to subject to the government for the Lord’s sake, the form of government is irrelevant whether it’s a democracy, a monarchy, or whatever, it’s our responsibility to voluntarily submit as an act of worship and obedience to our Lord Jesus.

Plenty of people throughout history have twisted this text to only apply to the authority of the church or in the church and not secular government, but it’s obvious from the plain reading of the text that that is not at all what Peter meant.

Paul wrote about this same subject in Romans 13:1-7,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

PJ Lange wrote, “The form which power may assume, and the person who may be appointed to exercise it, may be ordinances of man; but the authority itself is from God.”

We can be confident in our freedom from obeying sinful laws and commands because we know that sinful laws and commands are not from God. But sinful laws and commands are not just mandates and regulations that we don’t like or that we feel cost us too much.

The duties of obedience ceases where God from heaven decisively forbids it. Last week I quoted Acts 5:29 as a proof text from that t-shirt that said “Obey God, Defy Tyrants.” The context of that verse shows that those who were in authority were commanding Peter and John to stop preaching in Jesus’ name. There’s no way that they should have submitted to that command, and they were willing to accept the consequences.

Think about this quote from Jacob Mombert: “Christ was crucified by the power of Rome, as He fortold He would be. Peter and Paul, as they also foreknew, were martyred by Rome; but yet they preached submission to Rome.”

Submission to every human institution, to man-made social structures, is not only an act of worship to the Lord, but it is also a testimony to the watching, and sometimes critical, world.

15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 

Doing good, in this way, in submitting to our government, is a way to “put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

Let’s break this down. The phrase, put to silence is fairly straightforward but it’s much more graphic in the Greek, it literally means, “to muzzle.” Muzzles keep oxen from eating and dogs from biting. Clear enough?

Aphronon anthropon agnosian. The ignorance of foolish people, I told you Peter liked alliteration!

Often times the foolishness of ignorant people, those who are the most vocal in their criticism of the Lord and His church makes us angry, but honestly, it should move us to pity. They slander God because they are uneducated as to His love, they are unaware of His grace and goodness to them. The last thing we ought to do is to perpetuate that ignorance with our anger, instead we ought to display the love of God and our worship to Him by submitting to the authorities that HE has put in place.

16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Live as people who are free, there’s a reason that we love New Hampshire so much!

But what should we live like we are free from, free from responsibility, free from accountability, free from rules and laws?

How about free from Satan, sin, ceremonial law, free from death and the grave! Our freedom must never be used as a cloak for any wickedness and sin, nor the neglect of duty towards God or our superiors.

We are free from Satan’s dominion, we are free from the Law’s condemnation, we are free from the wrath of God for our sin, we are free from the terrors of death, not free to keep on sinning especially through insubordinance and disobedience.

We may not agree with the politics or practices of those who are in power but we are still responsible to respect the position and obey the office as servants of God.

17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Honor everyone, respect everyone, not just the chief, everybody.

Love the brotherhood, our fellow believers, siblings in Christ, don’t just feel it, demonstrate it.

Fear God, exercise profound reverence and awe, let that motivate you towards obedience.

Honor the emperor, respect those in authority because they are not there by chance, they were placed there by God.

“He that fears God, loves his brethren, and embraces all mankind with becoming love, will not fail to render also to kings the honor that is due them.”

Amen

How to Live Like an Exile - 1 Peter 2:11-17 - June 6, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for June 6, 2021. We are meeting in person (check out our Covid-19 Plan here) and online (facebook and youtube) every Sunday at 9:37 am. You can also watch livestream recordings at any time.

 1 Peter 2:11-17 How to Live Like an Exile

Good morning! We are headed back to 1 Peter this morning, chapter two, verses 11-17, page 1015 in the pew Bibles.

If you remember back to chapter one of this letter, the Apostle Peter was writing to what he called, “the elect exiles of the dispersion,” Jewish Christians living outside of Israel and away from Jerusalem. The original audience of Peter’s letter, the original recipients were scattered throughout the provinces of Asia, mostly what is now modern day Turkey.

And though we are not them, we have a lot in common with them and can easily identify with the principles that Peter lays out for them.

Peter called them exiles because they were living away from their homeland, but the they were living away from their homeland in two senses, first they were dispersed away from Jerusalem and so they were exiles, but that was just their earthly homeland, which wasn’t really their homeland at all once they were adopted by God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ.

Everyone who comes to faith in Jesus Christ and is adopted by God the Father becomes an exile here on earth, because Heaven is now our home. And we, though the millennia and miles separate us from these First Century believers, are exiles and sojourners with them while we remain here on earth.

So let’s look at our text together.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Let’s Pray.

Peter’s tender exhortation here to earth’s exiles, to the church, begins with a strong reminder that the church is not only on foreign soil but is at war.

Far too often, even among us, we forget that we are foreigners here, that nothing is permanent here on earth, and that the only true and lasting joys are in heaven, our real home. We find all sorts of ways to distract ourselves from this truth, we chase all kinds of things that seem totally harmless and allow them to cloud over and crowd out that which is truly important.

These are what Peter calls, “the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

He tells us to “abstain,” from them. That sounds pretty cut and dried, doesn’t it?

The word translated, “abstain,” means to be away from, a long way away, just like those believers were a long way from home, and we are a long way away from our heavenly home, we are to stay a long way away from the passions of the flesh.

I’m not sure I need to delineate exactly what constitutes a “passion of the flesh,” but it’s not as simple as we might first think, this though isn’t just about sex and sensuality, this is about anything that feeds the monster called our “self.”

Selfishness is the king of fleshly passions. “Fleshly lusts war against the soul; and their war is made up of stratagem and sleight, for they cannot hurt the soul but by itself. They promise it some contentment, and so gain its consent to serve them and undo itself; they embrace the soul that they may strangle it.” –Leighton

No wonder Peter tells us to stay far away from these passions of the flesh that promise gratification, the life of the soul, our inner self, our mind, our thoughts, our true being, our hearts, is hidden inside and is hurt and killed by these fleshly lusts.

Warren Wiersbe said, “Our battle isn’t with the people around us but with the passions within us.”

Our phones, our newsfeeds, our TVs, our perception of others opinions of us, these are all this same kind of distraction and they keep us fixated on the things that have cozied up to our hearts in order to strangle them.

But winning this war for our souls is not just about us, it’s also about those around us.

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 

We have the word, “Gentiles,” used here, but the word is the same Greek word for, “nation,” earlier in this chapter. Peter simply means unbelievers, or unbelieving nations and peoples, the ungodly world.

Peter charges the church to keep our conduct honorable, exercising good moral character. Christians are to stand out from the unbelieving world because we have a different set of standards. Especially in our day hen wrong is praised as being right and right is decried as being hate. Our conduct must remain honorable, treating others as we would like to be treated, loving our neighbors, honoring the Lord in all we do.

The world is closely watches Christians, always on the lookout for opportunities to slander the Church and our Savior as a result, unfortunately we give them way too many opportunities to do just that. 

We must watch our walks closely! And each other’s walks as well, correcting and rebuking as necessary so that we can all maintain God honoring walks with Jesus through this life. Accountability is unpopular in every circle but it is necessary in the church family because the world is watching.

In Peter’s day the church was blamed for all sorts of things any time something went wrong. Christians were falsely accused of being revolutionaries and blamed for every natural disaster and calamity.

Tertullian said, “If the Tiber rises to the walls of the city, if the Nile does not irrigate the fields, if an earthquake takes place, if famine or pestilence arise, they cry forthwith: away with the Christians to the lions!”

Now this may not be your experience but the church has certainly been blamed for our share of calamities even in modern times.

I’m sure you’ve met as many people as I have that have had bad experiences with the church in the past or have been turned off by stories that they’ve heard and have decided to write the church off as a whole instead of dealing with individuals or with the specific groups that caused the problems or hurts.

On the other side of the coin, you may have had experiences with what Peter says about the watching world and its reaction to your good deeds, seeing your good deeds and glorifying God on the day of visitation.

Understanding the phrase, “day of visitation,” is the key to understanding whether or not you can relate to what Peter is saying here.

My first thought was that the day of visitation meant the day that Christ returns but I don’t think that’s it. In truth, the day of visitation is any day that God visits the lives of people, believers and unbelievers alike, with great difficulty or difficulties.

We’ve talked about these experiences before as God’s refining fire for Christians but for unbelievers these days of visitation are the Father’s attempt to get people’s attention and call them to Himself.

When these days of difficulties come often times our unbelieving friends come to us for help and look to us for answers because they have observed our lives and know that we have answers to their problems.

It may be convenient for people to speak evil of the church as a whole, or to blame the whole church for all time for the actions of a few misguided souls, but when it comes to individual lives and individual people, those apart from Christ will look to their Christian friends, if they have any, when life goes sideways.

I guess the best thing we can do is make sure everybody has some Christian friends that they can count on for help in times of trouble. This is perhaps the best way that we can witness to people.

So if we think about these two verses they can easily be summarized, “watch your walk, don’t be a jerk, and do good works.” Is that it? Sounds kind of nebulous to me. Just be nice and that is enough to show the world that we are different and people will see Christ in us? Haha, nope.

Peter actually gives us some very specific ways in which the church is to stand apart from the world, and it is far from a popular strategy… The Church’s dirty word… Submission.

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

There is a lot to be said about this topic, and Peter gives the rest of this chapter and half of the next dealing with it and we’re going to be taking a closer look at it over the coming weeks.

I saw a t-shirt advertised this week with the phrase, “Honor God, Defy Tyrants,” on it by a company that claimed to speak for the Reformers, those are the guys I quote all the time, Luther, Calvin, guys like that.

The shirt had the reference Acts 5:29 at the bottom as its proof text. This is a quote from the Apostle Peter, “We must obey God rather than men.” Sounds good right? 

Only if you ignore the context of that verse in Acts as well as its context in the rest of the New Testament.

The same Peter that said, “we must obey God rather than men,” also said, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution…”

We are going to deal with this in depth next week but for now we can simply say that we are duty bound to obey civil authorities so that we are good citizens although we are exiles and that our duty of obedience ceases where God decisively forbids it. We are bound to the laws of man until they command us to violate the laws of God.

Submission is very unpopular because it flows in the opposite direction of selfishness and as disciples of Christ we should be shining examples of that flow that the unbelieving world will see our good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Amen.